The flight of the angels

THE FLIGHT OF THE ANGELS

In 1992, Angel Olaran (a White Father based in Tanzania) changed his destiny to start up the agricultural school Saint Mary School of Wukro in Tigray (North of Ethiopia). Since his arrival in Wukro he lives with the hard-living conditions of the population of the area, especially the one that children are facing. The number of orphans is very high so, although it is not a task entrusted by his ecclesiastical community, Angel Olaran decides to intervene, laying the foundations of what would later become a solid project: seek funds to help these children.

At the beginning, it will be Angel’s family who gets in touch with different organizations and institutions looking for help, but at the end of the 90’s, in Hernani (Angel’s hometown) they begin to know about the problems existing in Wukro and the work Angel is carrying out in the area. This causes that, around 1998, a group of neighbors begin to give their support to Olaran’s family; that is when Hernani Wukrorekin emerges, a group that, through the voluntary work of some neighbors, initiates an awareness-raising and fund-raising work among the villagers. Although the main objective of the association is the orphaned children of Wukro, Hernani Wukrorekin has also developed, together with different administrations, other projects, such as the scoring of torrential waters or the reconstruction of wells, among others.

All the photographs were taken entirely in the mission of St. Mary, Wukro (province of Tigray), north of Ethiopia, in September 2011.